Friday, June 9, 2017

V8 Release 6.0

Every six weeks, we create a new branch of V8 as part of our release process. Each version is branched from V8’s git master immediately before a Chrome Beta milestone. Today we’re pleased to announce our newest branch, V8 version 6.0, which will be in beta until it is released in coordination with Chrome 60 Stable in several weeks. V8 6.0 is filled with all sorts of developer-facing goodies. We’d like to give you a preview of some of the highlights in anticipation of the release.

SharedArrayBuffers

V8 6.0 introduces support for SharedArrayBuffer, a low-level mechanism to share memory between JavaScript workers and synchronize control flow across workers. SharedArrayBuffers give JavaScript access to shared memory, atomics, and futexes. SharedArrayBuffers also unlock the ability to port threaded applications to the web via asm.js or WebAssembly.